Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story.

BGM: Boggly Woods (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)

"Ah, such a lot of mouths to feed." Flurrie said. "But no worries, there's plenty of mushrooms to go around in this forest!"

"You sure you're gonna be okay?" Sora asked.

"Of course, darling! I wouldn't mind taking care of everyone!" Flurrie smiled happily.

"If you say so…" Mario said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'll be fine. You kids go along and collect the rest of the Crystal Stars. I'll be here!" Flurrie smiled. "We'll rebuild the tree together."

"Alright… see ya later!" Koops waved as they walked out of Flurrie's home and moved along through the woods.

"I honestly feel kinda bad…" Luigi said. "Their home gets destroyed and there's nothing we can do about it."

"It's unfortunate…" Vivian sighed where Luigi patted her on the shoulder.

"Hey now, it's not your fault. Ya did the right thing by coming to us." Luigi smiled.

Vivian smiled back. "Yeah… I sure did!" She smiled.

Seriously… who was that guy? Sora thought, thinking of his second encounter with Thunderbolt… unaware of Mario looking at him.

"Is everything alright?" Mario asked, snapping Sora out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh yeah… I'm fine."

"It was that fight with Thunderbolt, wasn't it? Got beat up pretty bad?"

"Yeah… the first fight I had with him, I beat him pretty easily but the second time… it was like he knew what I was gonna do."

"Ah, I wouldn't worry about it too much." Mario said. "So you had a bad fight. It's not a big deal, you just got to pick yourself up and try it again. Dust it off like it's no big deal."

Sora grinned. "Well duh… of course I'm gonna pick myself up!" He said before summoning his Keyblade. "I'm just… really curious about what he knows about this." He wondered, staring at the Keyblade.

"Old friend of yours?" Luigi guessed.

"Hmm… maybe? Didn't seem familiar…" Sora mused before shrugging. "Probably someone who had a run in with a wielder and had some knowledge on it."

"That… was my next guess." Luigi said. "…Okay, not really."

"I wonder…" Sora turned to Vivian. "Do you-"

"Nope… Thunderbolt is mysterious to everyone but Grodus, unfortunately."

"Oh. Well, I guess I'll figure things ou-" Sora's Gummi Phone went off. "Oh, hello!" He said as he pulled up his Gummi Phone to answer it.

End BGM

"Yo." Sora greeted. "…Hey, did you do something to your screen?"

"Ah, we hooked it up to a computer." Kairi responded. "No big deal!"

"Well, alright then. What's up?" Sora asked.

"Oh… well, the thing is…"

At the X-Naut Fortress…

Kairi blushed a little. "Um… I was wondering if it'd be alright if um… oh gosh, how am I gonna say this?"

"You feelin' alright?" Sora asked.

"Kinda… but I was… oh, how do I explain this?"

"Mind if I help out?" Peach asked as Kairi nodded. "Alright, so, Mario, you remember how we often dance together at the Mushroom Ball?"

Mario sighed happily. "How could I forget?"

Peach giggled. "Well… of course, of all the times I get kidnapped, it had to be around the time the Mushroom Ball was going to take place." She said, sweatdropping. "So um… I was wondering-"

"If I could take you to the ball when we get you out of there?"

Peach blushed. "Oh Mario, you knew what I was gonna say!"

Luigi chuckled. "I suppose I can take Daisy…"

"Sora…" Kairi nervously pressed her fingers together. "I… was wonde-"

"Yeah, I'll take ya. A night at the ball sounds fun!"

"Oh, yeah! It sure does!" Kairi smiled. "So uh… talk to you later then!" She said, turning around and blushing like crazy as she walked to her room.

"…Oh, Kairi, wait, you forgot your gummi phone!" Peach said, turning to the boys and waving before taking the phone to turn it off, then chased after Kairi.

"Wonder why her face is red… is she ill?" TEC wondered.

Back with the guys and Vivian…

"…Wait a minute…" Sora rubbed his chin in thought. "Balls usually mean dancing…" He said and then started sweating a bit. "Uh…"

"Something wrong?" Vivian asked.

"Do I even know how to dance?!" Sora blurted out.

"…Oh, awkwaaaard…" Koops quietly said.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll figure it out." Mario said as they walked back to the Warp Pipe.

End BGM

Once at the Thousand Year Door…

BGM: Hall of the Thousand Year Door (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)

"Whoa… I've heard it was big but… it's breathtaking…" Vivian said in awe as they approached the pedestal.

"Saaaay… you wouldn't happen to know what's behind this door, would you?" Koops asked.

"Sorry… Beldam's always left me in the dark about important things."

"Yowch… but don't feel too bad. You're with us now!"

Vivian smiled. "Yeah!" She nodded as Sora stepped on the pedestal, and one light show later, the map would lower itself as they would gather around to see where they were to be going next, and to their amazement, a floating stadium appeared in the sky.

"What the…" Sora wondered.

"Is that a floating… city?" Luigi tilted his head.

"Okay… how in the world do we get up there?" Koops asked.

"By… cannon?" Mario scratched his head.

"We might as well go ask someone." Vivian suggested with all of them nodded.

End BGM

At Frankly's…

BGM: Professor Frankly (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)

"Oh, you guys are so lucky!" Goombella exclaimed. "You're going straight to Glitzville!"

"Glitz… what?" Sora asked.

"It doesn't surprise me that you've never heard of it." Frankly said. "It's basically a fighting stadium where you can fight to your heart's content! Think Smash Bros but the Smash Mansion is several thousand feet in the air."

"Whooooa! Cooooool! …I have no idea what a Smash Mansion is." Sora said. "Nor Smash Bros for that matter."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Frankly said in surprise.

"He's from a different world." Luigi said.

"I suppose that makes sense… but still…"

"There's a rumor going around that a few people from the Smash Mansion are in the latest tournament in Glitzville! They didn't say who though…" Goombella said.

"Well, we might as well say hi to them when we bump into them." Mario said with Luigi nodding.

"There's some… bad news though." Frankly said. "In order to get to Glitzville, you're going to need a ticket… and to get said ticket, you'll need to get in touch with Don Pianta. He's… shall we say… socially tough."

"Oh, he can't be that bad." Luigi said.

"He's part of the Pianta mafia around Rogueport." Goombella added.

Luigi sweatdropped. "Aaaaand there it is…"

"That's a problem… so where's he at?" Mario asked.

"West side of Rogueport… unfortunately, there's a roadblock." Goombella responded. "A very loud roadblock."

"A loud roadblock?" Sora wondered… before it dawned on Sora and the Bros. "ZESS T!" They yelled as they took off running, leaving Koops and Vivian behind.

"…Huh?" Both of them wondered.

End BGM

BGM: Rogueport (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)

"Ah, we were wondering when you'd get back, kupo." The Moogle said, handing them the glasses. "Here you are, kupo! Glasses with a chain on them, that way she won't be able to lose them this time, kupo."

"And if she does?" Luigi asked.

"Then she's paying for it herself next time. She's a lousy Karen, kupo."

A what? Sora thought as they walked out the door and gave it to Zess T.

"Huzzah! I can see now! Thank you so much! Now if you'll excuse me…" Zess T walked into her home with a hum.

"Well, at least everyone can go to the west side in peace now." Luigi said as they walked over.

"Wow! Prettier than the other side." Koops said.

"You said it!" Vivian agreed.

"So… where would Don Pianta be hiding?" Mario wondered.

"I can go take a look!" Vivian said as she went underground.

"…Well, I guess we can take a look around ourselves." Sora said and with a nod, the four of them wandered around before they saw a brown Bulky Bob-omb.

"Lottery picks! Get your lottery picks here!" He called out as the four approached him. "Oh hello there, name's Lucky! You four want to try out the lottery?"

"Eh, sure, why not?" Mario shrugged.

"Excellent! Here are your lottery picks!" He said, handing them to the four.

Sora - 0347

Mario - 4810

Luigi - 0042

Koops - 1207

Oh, that's lovely! Luigi thought.

"Aaaaand here we go! Today's lottery number iiiiiis…!"

2986

"Heeeeey! Three of you have at least one matching number!" Lucky said. "Here are your prizes!" He happily gave the Bros and Koops a 1-Up Mushroom. "Sorry kid, better luck next time… but here's a consolation prize!" He gave Sora a Mushroom.

"Uh… thanks." Sora said, sweatdropping as he looked at the 1-Ups. What does the green mean? He wondered.

"Well, that went better than I thought it'd go!" Luigi smiled.

"Come back tomorrow for new tickets and numbers! It's gonna be a hoot!" Lucky said as the guys walked away… and then Vivian came up.

"Found him!" She said and then grabbed Sora's legs first and pulled him underground.

"Wah!" Sora yelped as he popped up in front of the Piantas. "Oh!" He stiffened right as the Bros and Koops popped up.

"Ooof! Coulda warned me…" Luigi rubbed his head.

End BGM

BGM: Don Pianta's Theme (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)

"What the devil! Where did you boneheads come from?!" Don Pianta wondered. "Tony! Vinnie! Get rid of these miscreants!"

"Hold up now!" Vivian piped up. "We've heard that you can get us tickets to Glitzville."

"Hmph! And what if I do?" Don folded his arms. "You have to have some evidence that I hold these tickets."

"They're in your drawer." Vivian said, pulling out a ticket in her hand. "Well, one of them was actually."

"What the-…"

"She's a witch!" Tony exclaimed.

"BURN HER!" Vinnie yelled, but then Vivian conjured up fire in her hands.

"Don't even try it." She said, causing the two Piantas to shrivel back.

"Okay, so I do have tickets, but I'm not gonna let you take the rest of them! …Unless you are willing to do something for me."

"What do you want us to do?" Mario asked.

"I want you to go find two acquaintances of mine." Don said. "One is my daughter, Francesca… and the other is Frankie… and those two lovebirds ran off somewhere! I want you to go find them for me. They shouldn't be too hard to loca-"

"Found them!" Vivian's voice echoed as she pulled up the two Piantas.

"OOOF!"

"…Vinnie, she scares me." Tony shuddered.

"Agreed!"

"I'm not even going to ask… now then, you two! You have some explaining to do! Why on earth would you both run away and-"

"We'll leave you guys be. We're going to Glitzville!" Vivian said.

"…What do you mean "we"?" Don wondered as Vivian pulled out more tickets.

"Oh, pulled more out of your drawer after I went to go find your acquantances. Have fun~!" Vivian smiled and pulled everyone underground.

"Oh, that sniveling LITTLE-"

End BGM

Back outside…

"You think stealing from the mafia was a good idea?" Koops asked nervously.

"Oh, I'm sure they've got other things to worry about." Vivian said.

"Eheheh… riiiight…" Sora sweatdropped as they walked off, all the while the whole West Side of town could hear a screaming fest from Don and Frankie.

"FRANKIE, I TREATED YOU LIKE A FATHER AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?! BY GETTING IT ON WITH MY DAUGHTER?!"

"BOSS, FOR THE LAST TIME, I HAVEN'T DONE IT WITH HER YET!"

"OH, BUT YOU ARE GOING TO EVENTUALLY!"

"Girls! Girls! You're both pretty… BUT DAD, CAN'T YOU SEE WE LOVE EACH OTHER? ALL WE ASK IS FOR YOUR BLESSING!"

"…Did I just hear the Don's daughter calling the Don a girl?" A Toad wondered.

"Draaamaaaaa~!" A Doogan chuckled.

"Here are your tickets! …Now let's get you to Glitzville. I'm assuming Don Pianta is gonna be on the war path!" The conductor said as they nodded, going into the blimp as it flew off straight for Glitzville.

Once at Glitzville…

BGM: Glitzville (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)

The blimp docked at the station as they all walked out, seeing the fancy floating city in front of them. "Whooooa!" Sora said in awe. "This is so cool!"

"I'll say! It's pretty neat." Mario nodded.

"Yup! I wonder what the food here is like?" Luigi wondered.

"Come on, let's go see what's in the arena. It should be in there somewhere." Sora said as they walked through while taking in the sights before wandering into the Glitz Pit.

End BGM

BGM: The Glitz Pit (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)

"Let's see… where do we go…" Luigi wondered, where they looked around the main area.

"Maybe through those doors?" Vivian guessed as they walked through the doors, and when they did, they saw a young woman fighting a burly man.

End BGM

BGM: Battle For Glory (Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of An Elusive Age)

"Rrrgh..." The woman panted, then rushed straight for the man. "HARVEST MOON!" She yelled, but he would grab her leg and slammed her into the ground and then jumped into her gut elbow first. "Aaaagh!"

End BGM

"KO!" The referee exclaimed. "Give it up for Rawk Hawk!"

"Hahahaha! She fought well, I'll give her that... but that ain't enough to take out THE Rawk Hawk! If any of you wish to fight me and my Elite Four, we will crush you to the dust! Because nobody can defeat me... BECAUSE THEY'LL GET RAAAAWWWWKED!" He boasted, holding his champion belt up high.

"That's the Crystal Star!" Koops exclaimed.

"Let's take it!" Sora smirked.

"Whoa whoa whoa, let's not get too hasty..." Mario said as the gears were turning in his head. "I have an idea." He said as he took them outside.

"What'ya thinkin', bro?"

"Hmm... well, I say if we have to get that Crystal Star, we'll have to fight our way to the top."

"Oooh, so you're suggesting entering this tournament?" Vivian asked, causing Mario to nod. "Awesome!"

"Yeah, that works." Sora nodded. "I guess we oughta go sign up."

"Right." Mario nodded as they went to do that, heading straight for security. "Excuse-a us, we were looking to fight in this tournament."

"You are? Right this way then." The security guard nodded as he escorted them to the office, knocking on the door.

"Come in!"

BGM: Grubba's Theme (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)

The door opened up, as the security guard let them in. "Oh! Howdy there, what can I do for ya, pardners?"

"We're looking to compete." Mario said.

"All of ya? Fantastic! You fellers came to the right place, and at the right time too! Everyone from around the world has come to compete in this here tournament! I call it the Freestyle Tournament, where anything goes and the only rule is that you have fun! ...Well, that and try not to kill one another. This ain't Mortal Kombat."

Thank goodness for that... Luigi thought.

"Now then, the name's Grubba! And you are...?"

"Mario!"

"Luigi!"

"Sora!"

"Koops!"

"Vivian!"

"Interesting names... but they don't strike me fancy enough..." Grubba mused and then grinned. "Heh, I got it!" He grinned and pointed to Mario. "You are now the Great Gonzales-"

"Eh?"

Then to Luigi. "-Number One Green Thunder-"

"Number one, eh?" Luigi grinned.

Then to Sora. "-The Sky Warrior-"

"Okay, odd..."

Then to Koops. "The Koopinator-"

"Oooh, fancy!"

And finally, to Vivian. "And you... uh, anything special about ya?"

"I can do this." Vivian said, going into the shadows and reappearing behind Grubba. "Boo."

"Yipe! Ohoho, that's a good one!"

"I also conjure fire." Vivian smiled, returning to her friends.

"That settles it! The Burning Poltergeist!"

"Oh, I wouldn't necessarily call myself a gho-"

"That settles it!" Grubba smiled, causing Vivian to sweatdrop. "Now then, let me call Miss Jolene in here and she can set y'all up." He said and pressed a button. "Jolene, will you be a peach and come in here, darlin'?"

"Yes sir. On my way.""Thank you!" Grubba smiled and then Jolene came walking in. "Take these fellers to their room, alright?"

"Yes. If you will follow me." She requested and then they followed her out the door.

End BGM

"So, when Grubba mentioned that anything goes, he means it. He wants you to have a fun time. He originally had a free for all down this year, but I told him that wouldn't be much fun so he suggested a battle royale, which I told him it was pretty much the same thing."

"Not to mention battle royales have been done to death." Luigi added.

"Exactly. Now then... this here is the Minor League room, so feel free to make yourselves comfortable until you are ready to request a match. It's that GBA on the wall, good day!" She said, pushing them all in and closing the door.

Jolene then walked away, continuing to walk through the hallway until she got into the main foyer, slipping past the cheering fans for Rawk Hawk until she stepped outside.

She shifted her eyes left and right before switching into a more casual outfit before walking to the side of the Glitz Pit.

"Sorry about the wait, I had an errand to do."

"No worries."

"I've heard a great deal about you... which is why I need you to do me a favor." Jolene requested. "I want you... to steal Grubba's heart."

"That is what we do best, ma'am." The leader chucked and turned to his friends. "Phantom Thieves, let's do some recon." He said as they disappeared into the shadows.

Jolene smiled. "Don't let me down..." She said and closed her eyes. Mush... I'm coming for you. She thought.

Kazuya is hard to master but holy crap, he is ridiculously beasty. He's insane!

Had to use two tickets on Classic Mode though... Lucario was squirrelly...

And then there's Heihachi where I will not understand how my friends were able to beat him first try while it took me several tries just to put the old man down...